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Visa-free travel for Ukrainians visiting the EU has arrived, and one mother is wasting no time in taking advantage of the new rules.

Irina Levko’s two-year-old son is disabled and has been receiving treatment in Europe.

Now the family can avoid paperwork and long queues at embassies before travelling.

She said: “Before, we had to prepare so many documents, about your income, job certificates. And now we have no obstacles.

“If we need to go, we can just pack our things and leave.”

The State Border Guard of Ukraine said they expect a significant growth in the number of citizens visiting the EU.

Oleh Slobodyan, from the State Border Guard of Ukraine, said: “We expect an increase of 30% in passenger traffic, based on the number of biometric passports issued to Ukrainians, about 4 million passports.”

The European Parliament gave final approval to ease travel restrictions for the country in April.

Ukrainians who hold an e-passport now have the right to visit most EU states for up to 90 days for tourism or business reasons, excluding the UK and Ireland.

But the visa-waiver does not give Ukrainians the right to work in the EU.

The EU has a suspension mechanism that can allow member states to halt the scheme if migration or security issues develop.